Rush Hour

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day-once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute. The name is sometimes a misnomer, as the peak period often consists of more than one hour and the "rush" refers to volume of traffic, not rate of flow. Typically, rush hour lasts from 6-10 am (06:00-10:00) and from 4-7 pm (16:00-19:00) local time. With people travelling places during their lunch time by car too, it is arguable that noon till 2 pm (14:00) is another, less frantic, rush hour. The frequency of public transport is usually higher in the rush hour, and in the case of trains, longer ones are often employed. However, the increase in capacity is often less than the number of passengers, due to the limits on available vehicles, staff and, in the case of rail transport, track capacity including platform length. As a result vehicles are more crowded and not everybody has a seat. This may have the effect of making public transport less desirable, therefore pushing more people into cars and making the traffic worse.